Sharyl Attkisson -  Former Guest Speaker at the Leadership Institute

Sharyl Attkisson is a nonpartisan investigative journalist, five-time Emmy Award winner, and recipient of the Edward R. Murrow award for investigative reporting. She is author of two New York Times best sellers: The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think and How You Vote, and Stonewalled. She is host and investigative reporter for the Sunday morning national TV news program, Sinclair’s “Full Measure” with Sharyl Attkisson, which focuses on investigative and accountability reporting.

For thirty years, Attkisson was a correspondent and anchor at CBS News, PBS, CNN, and in local news.

In 2013, she received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism for her reporting on “The Business of Congress,” which included an undercover investigation into fundraising by Republican freshmen. She received two other Emmy nominations in 2013 for “Benghazi: Dying for Security” and “Green Energy Going Red.” Additionally, Attkisson received a 2013 Daytime Emmy Award as part of the CBS Sunday Morning team’s entry for Outstanding Morning Program for her report: “Washington Lobbying: K-Street Behind Closed Doors.”

In September 2012, Attkisson received the Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Journalism and the RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Investigative Reporting for the “Gunwalker: Fast and Furious” story.

Attkisson received an Investigative Emmy Award in 2009 for her exclusive investigations into TARP and the bank bailout. She received an Investigative Emmy Award in 2002 for her series of exclusive reports about mismanagement at the Red Cross.

Attkisson is one of the few journalists to have flown in a B-52 on a combat mission (over Kosovo) and in an F-15 fighter jet Combat Air Patrol flight. She is a fourth-degree black belt in TaeKwonDo.

Previously, Attkisson hosted a medical news magazine on PBS called “HealthWeek,” anchored for CNN, and reported at several local news stations. She is a graduate of the University of Florida School of Journalism and Communications.

Sharyl Attkisson